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Thu, 2004-07-29 17:25

A while back, I posted about radio-frequency identification, or RFID, and how these little units could be cropping up on a conference badge near your meeting. At the time, I wrote, "The technology would potentially allow planners to really track attendees by using RFID in badges. But if the invasion of privacy this entails gives you the willies (as it does me!), the battle’s already being fought on the retail front, long before it hits the convention center."

"Hackers and those with less pure motives could use a handheld device and the software to mark expensive goods as cheaper items and walk out through self checkout. Underage hackers could attempt to bypass age restrictions on alcoholic drinks and adult movies, and pranksters could create confusion by randomly swapping tags, requiring that a store do manual inventory."

Or, if used at a meeting on badges, switch people's identifies, insert all kinds of untrue information...scary to think about. People already have big privacy concerns about using RFID, and I can imagine this will only add to them.